The opposition rounded on Gordon Brown after the deaths of eight British
soldiers in Afghanistan and accused him of "the ultimate dereliction of
duty” in his handling of the conflict.

Amid a growing political row about the future of Britain’s role in Afghanistan, Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said that the Prime Minister had “catastrophically” under-equipped the Armed Forces.

Mr Fox said that Mr Brown was now “resorting to spin rather than confronting the life-threatening reality” that the troops faced.

For this government to have sent our young people into battle without adequate equipment and protection is the ultimate dereliction of duty,” Mr Fox said. Conservative MPs are planning to use Defence Questions in the Commons tomorrow afternoon to demand answers from Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, on equipping troops and the Government's plans for salvaging the war effort.

The Conservatives accused Labour of attempting to cover up the fact that British troops do not have enough helicopters, which had forced them to travel by road and left them vulnerable to the Taliban’s roadside bombs.

Twelve of the 15 British soldiers killed in Afghanistan this month, and three quarters of those killed over the past two years, were killed by the so-called improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Mr Fox’s comments came as names were released for the final six of the eight soldiers killed between Thursday and Friday — the bloodiest 24 hours for front-line troops since the Falklands. It emerged that their average age was 20, that three were fathers and that two had signed up at the age of just 17.

Paying tribute to the “sacrifice” of the fallen men, Mr Brown said: “Despite the losses, our forces are doing a magnificent job.”

However, he refused to commit more troops to the campaign, saying only that the situation would be kept “under review”.

He said: “I know that this has been a difficult summer — it is going to be a difficult summer.”

Labour attempted to play down the disclosure that Gen Sir Richard Dannatt, the chief of the general staff, had asked for an additional 2,000 British troops for Helmand province, but that his request was rejected by Downing Street.

Lord Drayson, a defence minister, insisted that Gen Dannatt had not specified that the extra troops should be British. “It wasn’t true that there was a decision not to provide these additional troops,” he said. “Quite the opposite, additional troops have been provided,” he said.

David Crausby, a Labour MP and member of the Commons defence committee, accused Gen Dannatt of playing “party politics” with the conflict.

In April The Daily Telegraph disclosed that the Treasury had blocked, on financial grounds, an attempt by the Ministry of Defence to match an American troop “surge” with a permanent deployment of thousands more British soldiers.

While the plan was backed by John Hutton, the then defence secretary, it was vetoed due to a lack of funds — a decision that was ultimately approved by Mr Brown. Mr Hutton resigned his post last month.

A smaller contingent of 700 troops sent instead to temporarily maintain security around the Afghan elections next month are due to return soon after the poll.

Mr Ainsworth denied reports of a “secret plan” to cut troop numbers by 1,500. Pressed on whether the Government could increase numbers on the ground, both Mr Ainsworth and Lord Drayson would only say: “We keep the numbers of troops under review.”

Patrick Mercer, a Conservative MP and former infantry officer and shadow security minister, said: “We have got to have extra manpower.

“I know for a fact that the Army has available another battle group but it is not being allowed to deploy them for political and economic reasons and that’s a disgrace. There is no point all these men dying if the ground they have captured can’t be held.”

In response to the criticism over a lack of helicopters Mr Brown insisted that British forces “have almost twice as much helicopter capability as two years ago”.

However, Mr Fox said: “Labour’s decision to cut the helicopter budget in 2004 by £1.4 billion was catastrophic.

“For the Prime Minister to resort to spin rather than confronting the life-threatening reality that we face is incredible cynicism.”

The 5,000 British troops in Helmand have 8 Chinook helicopters and about six smaller Sea Kings between them.

An ICM poll for the BBC found support for Britain's role in Afghanistan has increased 15 points since 2006 to 46 per cent. However 47 per cent still oppose involvement.